USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -The Western Pacific Railroad Company built 132 miles (212 km) of track from the road’s western terminus at Alameda/Oakland to Sacramento, California. The Central Pacific Railroad Company of California (CPRR) constructed 690 miles (1, 110 km) east from Sacramento to Promontory Summit, Utah Territory.

Detailed explanation-2: -In 1862 Congress passed the Pacific Railroad Acts which designated the 32nd parallel as the initial transcontinental route and gave huge grants of lands for rights-of-way. The legislation authorized two railroad companies, the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific, to construct the lines.

Detailed explanation-3: -The rail line, also called the Great Transcontinental Railroad and later the “Overland Route, ” was predominantly built by the Central Pacific Railroad Company of California (CPRR) and Union Pacific (with some contribution by the Western Pacific Railroad Company) over public lands provided by extensive US land grants.

Detailed explanation-4: -The Act divided the huge job of constructing the railroad between two companies – the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific. The Central Pacific Railroad would start it Sacramento and build east, and the Union Pacific Railroad would start at Omaha and build west.

Detailed explanation-5: -Cornelius Vanderbilt and his son William were perhaps the most famous railroad tycoons. During the era, they bought out and consolidated many of the rail companies in the East, enabling them to cut operations costs.